Portal Review

[Obama]

Portal, the newest and original title from Valve of ‘The Orange Box’ can now be purchased as a standalone title for 20$, allowing the nation of gamers the opportunity to wallow in one of the most innovative and unique products the gaming industry has seen in a long time.

PC Version

PS3, XBOX360. (As part of "The Orange Box")


The game is set amidst the sprawling network of the Aperture Science Laboratories, a research corporation running experiments on the Handheld Portal Device or 'portal gun'. This gun forms the backbone of what makes the game so special; it is a very clever concept. The portal gun allows you to make a gateway, or portal, between two points. Whatever passes through one portal will come out of the other, while retaining the same momentum, which introduces some unique puzzles. GLaDOS, an AI computer, acts as a narrator and guide of some sort, taking you through a number of challenges that make clever use of this portal gun, from directing deadly energy pellets to traversing bottomless particle fields and moving platforms.

Such variety and uniqueness running throughout the game ensures that the experience never gets old, and is one that you'll want to revisit time and time again.

What has impressed both critic and consumer alike is undoubtedly the gameplay. Portal is a joy to play; it really has to be seen to be believed. What gets you through the game is not GLaDOS's constant promises of delicious cake as reward for completing certain tasks, but it's compelling, addictive nature. The portal gun really is a jewel itself, offering an innovative take on puzzle-solving that will engage even the most logical thinker on multiple levels. There are different ways you can complete increasingly difficult tasks; forcing you to make clever use of the lovable Weighted Companion Cube while at the same time having to navigate past gun turrets and toxic liquid to reach your goal. Portal offers thoughtful gameplay at its very best.

Part of Portal's appeal is greatly illustrated by the dark, witty humor that ensues throughout. The game has none of the serious mask of most contemporary titles, and that is part of the secret of why it has achieved such mass popularity. Even the closing credits offer a source of amusement. Everything, absolutely everything, is geared towards making Portal enjoyable, engaging and most importantly of all, fun.

A sad point to note is that the game itself is undeniably short. You can complete it in a matter of hours and yet still feel like your skills were not stretched to their limit, that it wasn't much of a challenge, and that you didn't actually achieve anything. It is crystal clear that Portal is a brilliant game, but the longevity factor will definitely leave you with a sour taste in your mouth. Forming part of The Orange Box this compromise on length feels justified, but were you to buy Portal separately, you'll be left wanting a bit more bang for your buck.

That said, it is hard not to keep coming back to Portal. While certain challenges and more difficult versions of six levels are unlocked upon the game's completion, it merely offers an excuse to plunge back into the world of Aperture Science. To hear GLaDOS's increasingly hilarious commentary, or simply to mess around with the portal gun (clearly one of the best weapons featured in a game since the 'gravity gun' of Half Life 2), Portal has replayability purely on the grounds that it is a great game.

If only there were more games like Portal. If only the gaming industry cared less about creating the most graphically realistic experience possible, and more about making games that are just plain fun. A simple concept, executed brilliantly. Portal truly is Valve's finest hour.

- Obama





Samsta says: Portal was a very, very interesting game. It had many elements of a platformer...literally, with the problem solving fun of Zelda with the physics of Half-Life 2. That combined with a touch of dark humor made this game a very memorable one for me =)

Iradiation says:It’s one of the best First person puzzle games I’ve ever played and I think just about anyone who's played it can agree. It’s very intense and always keeps you thinking throughout the entire game

Gothian says: I find portal to be a really interesting game, they inplimented the portal system very well, seamlessly infact. The game really does make make you take a step back from what you know to be true about the world's workings, yet at the same time does hold true to these workings.. just adding in that whole portal mechanic that we havn't figured out how to manipulate yet. I also find the dark humor of the GlaDOS to be one of the main staples of the game, at times hard to understand with the machine voice and sound effects, if one really takes the time to listen to what it says and think about the meaning, it really is quite hilarious as well as macabre. I really found portal to be a great game, although it loses it's replayability after a few times of running through the whole game, even with the challenges, it is just more like seeing if you can do the level more efficiently/faster. I am more a fan of: If I can get to the goal, the method in which I got there is meaningless. So for me the challenges weren't all that great of an aspect. One thing I think would make the game better is for the creators to add more content on an episodic basis, or perhaps a monthly/weekly level challenge, or even add the story in as a side-note to the Half-Life 2, perhaps have a run in with the two characters and add the portal functionality for parts of Half-Life. I honestly thought this was the case given the storyline and the end-song. But it turned out that this suspicion did not come true. Overall, I liked it a lot, and think it will go down in history as one of the great games of our time.



One of Portal's unique and compelling challenges.


Portal is very trippy at times.


Portal's level design is simply amazing.



Minimum Requirements
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 1700 MHz /
Display Card!: DirectX 8 compatible graphics card /
Memory: 512MB
Free Disk Space: 5GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Recommended Requirements
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3000 MHz /
Display Card!: DirectX 9 compatible graphics card /
Memory: 1024MB
Free Disk Space: 5GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista

[Saaen]

Portal is a great and even more fun game, I play it in my extra time, trying to pass the time, it's always fun to try different challenges and succeed, overall I give portal a overall 9/10!

[Hellgawd]

Awesome review. Suggestion: fix the logo image
The actual individual elements about this game, IMO, when analyzed aren't SPECTACULAR - but yet the whole game as one entity is EXCELLENT.

[Saint-Pasdoy]

portal is really nice

[Errage]

I've played Portal through multiple times, and I loved it every single time. I simply love Portal, it is an awesome game, with a lot of replay value, and just a lot of fun to mess around with everything.

[Forever]

I don't find this game worth a 10 at all, that robotic voice pissed me off so after a few levels I muted my sound already, the graphics are nice but compared to other games now-a-days it isn't worth more than a six.
The replay value is 0 imo, once I completed it I tried to do it again but I was quickly bored since the bit of challenge in the game was nowhere to be found while playing the second time.
Also, the game was so short I've completed it in 2 hours and I haven't encountered something difficult at all, they should have made the game longer and harder imo

The idea of Portal was really nice though, it's a shame the game is so short and easy

[Viter]

Portal is my favouirte game ever!
Too bad its so short

[mudfish]

Portal is a great game. The only thing I would love to change about this game is for Valve to release some new content to it. That and maybe have achievements mean something. Some of them are pretty tough and it would be nice to unlock something after beating them. Overall it's a great game and would recommend it to anyone.

[[F]ear]

A flash game made play worthy.

[Cyberrius]

im all excited and fuzz now, thank you!

[c0ddingt0n]

awesome review

[warsheep]

The game, not taking the fact that it's very short is great imo.
It is one of the few games that are funny because they were supposed to,
not like other games, where the funniest part is where a NPC glitches into the wall.

The hidden cookies, like the rooms with pictures of hawt models, and the companion
cube glued over their face... The repeated "The companion cube will never treathen to
stab you, and in fact, cannot speak"... It's a great game.

Above, a person mentioned that the graphics aren't that nice... Well, Portal was released
a while ago now, and with the speed of video gaming, it's perhaps a bit outdated now.

What I miss in the review, is a bit bigger box for the scores, and WHY it turned out
like that. Imo, the sound, with the crazy GLaDOS is worth a 10th, however the replay
value could have been lowered, not because you get tired of the gameplay, but that
it isn't challenging anymore.

I also think it lacks a bit more criticism. Sure, the game is great, I wont deny that,
but there are negative sides about it!

The challenge modes could have been brought up too, and mentioning custom maps
would be great.

[Sonic Waffle]

Awsome review Obama! Portal is a very lovable game, but yet too short.
It's also pretty fun to mess about in and has great graphics! I love it and my overall score for it would be 9.5. =D

[Neth'zul]

Sick review Obama! I loved this game, good graphics and story line, but finished it toooooo quick. I give it a lovely 8.0

[samsta458]

Portal is awesome , only downside is how short it is. Other then that amazing game + I'm in this review xD